San Gimignano

As you may have guessed, we have had a steady stream of visitors.  Our next guests were Kae and Terry Rutan from Carmen's IB book club.  You also may have guessed that we are surrounded by medieval hill towns, and you would be right.  One highly-regarded hill town that we had not yet visited is San Gimignano, so we set off for it with Kae and Terry.

Quick Italian pronunciation lesson:  

san  jim-in-YAWN-o

Terry and Kae

These hill towns always present Carmen with wonderful photo opportunities:  balconies and windows with flower boxes, archways, columns, church windows, piazzas, and towers.  And the occasional surprise, such as an iron hitching post with a pig head.

I have expressed my fascination with ancient clocks several times before; my latest discovery is this sundial on the side of a church.  I want to investigate further, but my initial guess is that the shadow tracks along various arcs at different times of the year.  But what are the highly eccentric ellipses for?  We would love to hear your ideas in a comment!

San Gimignano, like many hill towns in Tuscany, dates back to Etruscan times.  We discovered this well-preserved Etruscan sculpture.  Oh-oh, the BS alarm just went off!

Even though we like to think that we are "locals," we are not above taking pictures as tourists.

Some posed...

...and some not